146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUilE. 



Mak. 



not realize that it applied to me as well as to 

 David. The meetings for the winter were 

 closed, and our disheartened pastor not very 

 long after bid us a sad adieu, and accepted 

 an offer to labor in a new field. Although a 

 few during that winter started in the service 

 of the Master, I presume many thought "the 

 attempt to get up a revival," as they ex- 

 pressed it, was a failure. Was it a failure? 



My mind goes back especially to one of 

 the meetings that winter. There were but 

 a few there, and mostly young people, or 

 those but a few years on the Christian path- 

 way. Our pastor again spoke of the impor- 

 tance of all taking a part, and remarked, 

 with great emphasis and feeling, that if 

 every one present, in just this little meeting, 

 would stand up, or take part in prayer, a 

 blessing wonld surely follow. For once it 

 seemed his little tlock were ready to stand 

 by him ; and although my faith was weak, 

 and my thoughts probably much on busi- 

 ness as usual, as one after another began to 

 tell of their trials and successes in the 

 straight and narrow path, I began to shake 

 off my half-heartedness, and to enter fully 

 into the spirit. Among the rest who spoke 

 was a convert from our county jail, of whom 

 I have told you. What he said was in sub- 

 stance something like this : — 



" My friends, 1 can't stand it to sit still 

 any longer. I must speak. I am not mak- 

 ing tlie progress in Christian life I should 

 make. I am very much of the time sadly 

 discouraged, and almost ready to give up; 

 but for all that, I love to be among Christian 

 people, and I want to follow the Savior. I 

 need your prayers ; friends, remember me." 



Do you wonder that these few words 

 roused us up? It was as if some one who 

 was out that winter night in cold waters, 

 amid blocks of ice, had sent a pleading cry 

 to us. Would we pray for him? The thought 

 in many a heart was, " Why, God bless you, 

 dear old friend, to be sure, we will pray for 

 you, and help you by every means in our 

 power." It had been whispered, that his 

 religion had of late grown somewhat cold ; 

 but did any one there feel less inclined to 

 pray for him on that account ? Was there 

 one there, think you, whose religion had not 

 at some time grown cold ? If I remember, 

 every one gave witness in some way of the 

 need of a Savior; and when the meeting 

 closed we were "with one accord," like the 

 disciples on the day of Tentecost, shaking 

 hands, and showing in our looks that we felt 

 a sincere kindness and good will toward each 

 other we had not felt before. If any present 

 had before felt a disposition to dwell on the 

 infirmities of some other brother or sister 

 present, the disposition was gone; and for 

 the time, at least, he felt ashamed of it. I 

 am pretty sure that every one present at that 

 meeting made a marked step in the way of a 

 better life, from that time forward. There 

 were present, at the time, a young married 

 couple who united with our church at about 

 the same time I did. These two, although 

 faithful ill the performance of all church du- 

 ties, and regular attendants at most of our 

 meetings, had never taken any very active 

 part in Christ's work, nor had they seemed 

 as full of the Spirit as some who had more 



heart in the work. At about the time of 

 these meetings, or perhaps at this very meet- 

 ing, these two friends seemed to wake up, 

 and put on a new spirit of earnest devotion 

 to the Master's work that was almost like the 

 experience of a new convert. I noted the 

 bright earnestness and joy in their faces, 

 and, in my want of faith, wondered if it 

 would last. It has lasted, dear friends, al- 

 though years have passed since then. They 

 have had some trouble, and been at times 

 discouraged; but they have never, I am 

 sure, been back where they were before 

 those meetings. It has been my privilege 

 once to cheer them in a time of trouble, and 

 to hold up God's promises before them ; but 

 it was a far easier task than it is with those 

 who have never known Christ's great love 

 for sinners. Not only were these friends 

 bright, and full of faith in our meetings, and 

 in our Sabbath-school, but it goes through 

 all their lives. "Ye are my witnesses;" 

 and no one who has known them can well 

 help seeing that their every-day lives are in- 

 deed a witness for the Master. 



Tliose who attended that meeting, or the 

 meetings of that winter, have been a sort of 

 little band of earnest Christians of them- 

 selves, ever since. Every Thursday even- 

 ing, and every Sunday evening, you will find 

 them promptly on hand at the young peo- 

 ple's prayer-meeting, and that, too, ahnost 

 in spite of cold and storms. Not only have 

 they been in attendance, but their voices, as 

 well as their lives, have continually borne 

 witness. The result has been, that the at- 

 tendance has increased year after year, until 

 we now have, instead ot the dozen that used 

 to come, an atitendance of from tifty to a hun- 

 dred. It seems a little strange to me now, 

 to think of young people being attracted to a 

 prayer-meeting; but it is nevertheless so, 

 that our boys and girls, of almost all classes, 

 now as a rule gather there regularly. They 

 go, because the educated and intelligent 

 young people of our town are sure to be 

 there, and the meeting is mostly kept up and 

 carried on by those of their own age who 

 testify and bear witness to the cause of 

 Christ. The time was when one who joined 

 the Church would meet with sarcasm and 

 ridicule among our people ; but the influence 

 and testimony are now so strongly on the oth- 

 er side, that he who gets up in these meet- 

 ings and declares his intention and purpose 

 to give up vain pleasures, and live for God 

 and his fellow-men, meets with kind words 

 and encoui'agement instead. 



Through winter and summer these meet- 

 ings were attended with zeal and interest ; 

 and although there were perhaps seasons 

 of comparative dullness for a time, it was 

 pretty sure to be followed by a stepping up- 

 ward again pretty soon ; and while I would 

 by no means speak disparagingly of the 

 weekly prayer-meeting for elderly people, it 

 was manifest to any observer, that among 

 our younger ones there was a brighter and 

 more practical faith, if that is the word for 

 it. I am now among the elderly ones, you 

 see, and I have often felt rebuked for the 

 want of zeal and interest I felt, as I came 

 into their midst. 



Well, shortly after the week of prayer, but 



